BADGEMORE THROUGH THE AGES – 1066 AND BEYOND
“The Badgemore settlement in 1086 was made up of five hides (approximately 280 acres), seven villagers, three smallholders and one slave”
How many golf clubs could claim a direct line back to 1066 and William the Conqueror? The Battle of Hastings may not be the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of Badgemore Park and yet the connection is indisputable. The site of an ancient manor west of Henley-on-Thames, the land on which Badgemore sits was gifted by King William to Henry de Ferrers, one of the knights who fought alongside him on that October day almost 1,000 years ago. The land had previously belonged to Godric, the Anglo-Saxon Sheriff of Berkshire. Held in high esteem, de Ferrers was later commissioned to work on the Domesday survey from which the Domesday Book was compiled. Among its pages is reference to the Badgemore settlement which, in 1086, was made up of five hides (approximately 280 acres), seven villagers, three smallholders and one slave.
The tenant at the time was recorded as ‘one Ralph’, whose successors adopted the surname ‘of Badgemore’. According to records, the Badgemore family remained connected to the site until the early part of the 13th century when tracts of land were sold off. Among the transactions recorded was the sale of around four hides to John de Grey, the Bishop of Norwich and a close confidant of King John. The land stayed within the Grey family and was, until the early 15th century, part of the Rotherfield Greys manor. No evidence has been found on the current estate for a main residence, although historians have suggested one may have existed near today’s Badgemore House. Nothing further is documented until the 18th century when Richard Jennings – master carpenter to Sir Christopher Wren at St Paul’s Cathedral – bought the estate from William Corderoy, a yeoman, in 1710.
7 / THE LIMES
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